As the world gradually becomes more and more dependent on digital technology, people’s lives are also transferred into online storage spaces in the form of data strings. In the near future, this digital wave will soon sweep over our remaining dry lands. In Phillip Dick’s novel, this happened in the year 2049, a surreal time where humans and androids are so like one cannot tell them apart, and mankind is already colonizing Mars and traveling in space.

Irregularly exuberant development always comes with a price, and the price people pay in that fictional world is the home they live upon — Earth. The truth is, the planet was so devastated that people had to move to Mars for a living. The remaining humans are either in asylums, exiled and discriminated against, or in tall skyscrapers, esteemed and affluent.

Objects have no intrinsic value, but we as humans assign them specific values based on their practicality and rareness. In the post-apocalyptic world of 2049, animals almost went extinct, which makes the remaining ones extremely valuable. Although electronic animals prevail in the market, people still see owning an authentic animal as a sign of status.

Under the morbid environment, people developed advanced androids to serve their depraved needs and desires; being more than merely robots, rebellious androids who can no longer take this exploitation and humiliation rose in revolt against the humans. Humans sent their police forces, special units known as blade runners, to “retire” and hunt down these androids. 

The “flesh superior to electronics” ideology also applies to the relationship between humans and androids. Some people can discriminate between “flesh” and “metal,” treating the former with common manners and standards, while the latter with utter disrespect and utilization, almost like a tool instead of a sentient life. However, there are also people who see the androids as brothers and sisters of a different origin, and this brings up the debate between the “authentic” and “counterfeit.” When androids are more sympathetic and humanistic than people who only care about their interests, does that make them human or a mere pile of metal? Some people developed an authentic relationship with androids; should that relationship be denied from its origins?

It is hard to define sentient life, just like it was hard for the protagonist Richard Deckard, a police officer and blade runner, to distinguish androids and human beings. Is the demonstration of empathy a common standard for sentient life forms? If it is, what if the “thoughts” behind that friendly façade are merely a collection of meticulously running codes? At the end of the day, there is no definite answer; we, humans, decide whether we see things as authentic or spurious. People can choose to immerse themselves in sweet virtual reality, but they can also choose to face the harsh reality. Reminiscent of the red and blue pills in “The Matrix,” it is upon the individual to decide. What will you choose at the end of the day?